Mechanical off-bearing flared rolls



p i 1949- G. w. CHARTERS I I 2,468,036

- MECHANICAL OFF-BEARING FLARED ROLL Filed 001:. 2, 1945 Z INVENTOR. GEORGE-W. CHARTERS ATTORNEY v Patented Apr. 26, 1949 MECHANICAL OFF-BEARING FLARED ROLLS George W. Charters, Camas, Wash, assignor to Crown Zellerbach Corporation, San Francisco, Calif., a corporation of Nevada Application (ictoloer 2, 1945, Serial No. 619,771

2 Claims.

This invention relates to the sawing of logs and lumber, and, more particularly, to the sawing of slabs from the sides of logs.

It is necessary that the slabs, When severed from the logs, be placed with their sawed or flat face down so as to enable them to be moved in this position for further sawing or other treatment. The ordinary tendency, when slabs are sawed from the sides of logs, is for the slabs to fall down so that they will lie with their flat sawed face uppermost, thus resting on their rounded or bark surface. In such case it is then necessary to turn over the slabs onto their fiat or sawed face before they can be properly subjected to further sawing or treatment. For this reason it has been customary to employ persons especially to turn the slabs over onto their flat faces as they are cut from the sides of logs. The persons employed for this particular labor are commonly referred to as off-bearers. The slabs cut from long, large logs are often quite heavy and in such cases it is necessary to employ two persons to act as off-bearers. The job of off-bearer is generally strenuous and fatiguing, as well as monotonous, and as a result it is difficult to obtain persons for this particular work. In order to obviate the necessity of employing manual labor for this purpose and to reduce the expense and the risk of physical injury entailed by such manual labor, some mechanical off-bearers have been tried out as substitutes with some degree of success. The object of the present invention is to provide improved mechanical means for moving the slabs and for causing them to be brought into the desired position with their flat or sawed face down, without requiring any manual labor in the operation.

A further object of this invention is to provide such means in combination with live rolls for handling the slabs so that the slabs will automatically be properly positioned and moved out of the Way as they are severed from the sides of the logs.

An additional object of this invention is to provide a simple and practical means of the type indicated which can be used for logs of any size and shape and for various sizes and shapes of sections of logs without requiring any changing or adjusting, and which will accordingly reduce the cost and labor required in the handling of slabs to a minimum.

These objects and incidental advantages I obtain by employing a series of live or driven slabpositioning rolls having flared or conically-shaped ends adjacent the log carriage, and by otherwise arranging such mechanical off-bearing means in the manner hereinafter briefly described with reference to the accompanying drawings:

In the drawings:

Figure l is a fragmentary plan view illustrating a slab being positioned when out from the side of a log; and

Figure 2 is a fragmentary sectional view on line 2-2 of Figure 1.

In the drawings L denotes the log and S the slab which is being cut from the side of a log. The log L is supported on a suitable carriage l0 and is held in position on the carriage by the usual means, such as dogs, and by adjustable knees, one of which is shown at l I. The carriage is mounted on supporting wheels which roll along the rails 12. Means for moving the carriage at uniform predetermined speed is provided, such means being omitted from the drawings inasmuch this does not constitute any part of the present invention. The sawing of the logs is performed by the usual band saw it and the carriage and log move in the direction indicated by the arrow X in Figure 1.

Instead of the usual rolls for moving the slabs as they have been cut from the sides of the logs, I provide a plurality of driven slab-positioning rolls of identical size and shape. Three such slab positioning rolls E5, E6 and I! are shown in Figure 1. Each of these slab positioning rolls has its end,

which is adjacent to the log carriage, enlarged or flared so as to constitute a conically-shaped' end portion it. The axes of the slab positioning rolls are all in the same horizontal plane and are all perpendicular to the line of travel of the log carriage and log. The rolls are mounted in suitable journals at each end and are preferably so positioned that their innermost or conical end will extend slightly inside of the vertical plane of the saw kerf line, as shown in Figure 2. Preferably the conical end extends about inch beyond the saw line. The height of the rolls is preferably such that the highest portion of the conical end will be at substantially the same height as the top of the log carriage. If the conical ends extended up any substantial distance above the top surface of the log carriage there would be a possibility that they might come into engagement with the log if logs of small diameter were being sawed, or if slabs Were being cut from sections of logs.

When the slab S is cut from the log L the bottom edge of the slab drops down into contact with the conical ends of the rolls and slides down the sloping surface of the same thereby causing the slab momentarily to be in the position shown in full lines in Figure 2. The bottom edge of the slab will continue sliding outwardly on the cylindrical portion of the rolls until the slab finally rests entirely on the rolls, its position then being indicated by the dotted line S in Figure 2. Thus in its final position the slab, without any manual handling, comes to rest with its sawed or fiat face downward. The conical end surface and the main cylindrical surface of the positioning rolls preferably merge into each other through an intermediate curved or concaved surface, thus facilitating the uninterrupted sliding of thebottom edge of the slab from one end of the rolls outwardl to the other end.

Although all the slab-positioning rolls may be driven in unison, I have found it preferable to have the first roll I5, next to the band saw, driven at a faster rate of speed than the others. This, in fact, is common practice with ordinary slab rolls and the first roll consequently is erally designated as the hurry-up roll. Cur tomarily this hurry-up roii is driven at twice the speed of the other live rolls used for moving; the slabs forward. This difference in speed is easily obtained by means of appropriate gearing (not shown in the drawings). The remaining rolls, of which I preferably provide 8, are driven in unison by having their shafts connected, through suitable beveled gears, to a common driven shaft it. The slab positioning rolls are spaced apart at equal distances and are Suffiw ciently close together to take care of slabs iron: the shortest logs which are being cut in the mill.

If uniforml large diameter logs only are being cut it might be desirable to have the slab positioning rolls raised to a slightly higher level than shown in Figure 2; thus the conical end Hi of the rolls could extend above the top or" the carriage Ii] without danger of contacting log surface. This would reduce the distance through which the slabs would drop before encountering the rolls. Also, of course, it would be possible to provide for the raising or lowering oi the log carriage with respect to the rolls, if logs of different sizes are out in the mill. However, I have found that it is satisfactory and practical to have the top of the conical ends of the roll extend to substantially the same height as the top of the log carriage, as previously mentioned and as shown in Figure 2, and such arrangement will provide adequately for all sizes of logs or log segments, thus dispensing with any necessity for adjusting the relative heights of the rolls or log carriage.

Other modifications would also be possible within the scope of my invention and without departing from the principle thereof.

I claim:

1. In combination with a log moving carriage and a vertically-operating saw for cutting slabs, a plurality of slab-positioning rolls, said slabpositioning rolls arranged with their axes perpendicular to the line of travel of said carriage, the axes of said rolls being all in the same horizontal plane, said rolls being identical in size and shape, each of said rolls having a conically-shaped end portion, said end portions located adjacent said carriage and extending approximately 4 inch inwardly from the saw line, whereby a slab, upon being severed from the side of the log by said saw, will drop onto said rolls and its bottom edge will slide down said end portions and thence outwardly on said rolls, causing the slab to become positioned on said rolls with its sawed face down, the highest portion of said conically-shaped ends of said rolls being at approximately the same height as the top of said carriage.

2. The combination of a log moving carriage, a vertically operating saw adjacent one side of said carriage for cutting slabs, and a plurality of driven slab-positioning rolls, said rolls arranged with their axes substantialiy perpendicular to the line of travel of said carriage and said axes all located in the same horizontal plane, said rolls being identical in size and shape, each of said rolls having a main cylindrical portion and a flared, enlarged-diameter end portion, said flared end portions terminating in a vertical plane extending parallel to the line of travel of said carriage and located adjacent said carriage, the highest portions of the flared ends of said rolls extending to a height not lower than the top of said moving carriage, whereby a slab while being cut from a log on said carriage by said saw will contact said rotating flared ends and continue such contact while dropping down from the log, and thus eliminate any tendency for the forward movement of the slab longitudinally with respect to the log to be retarded as said slab moves into desired position on said rolls.

GEORGE W. CHARTERS.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 996,386 Williams June 27, 1911 1,038,514 Anderson Sept. 17, 1912 1,867,873 Browne July 19, 1932 2,109,925 Mitchell Mar. 1, 1938 

